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I never knew he was my landsman

I first met him in London, and those who introduced me to him were all goyim. They used his English name, and though they mentioned he’d been born Jewish, just like me, at that time I didn’t realise what that meant. I was too busy marvelling at how wonderful he was, reading his teachings and seeking to live according to what he said, because I recognised the profound goodness and truth in it.

My Jewishness didn’t mean much to me at that stage of my life. For nine years after meeting him I ignored it, but then things began to happen which forced me to think about it. I met other Jews who had met him, and to them it was really important that he was Jewish too. In their eyes it was significant that I came from Israel, which I’d always taken for granted. Gradually, through these people, God got through to me and made me see that being Jewish was a special thing. Reading the Bible through the new eyes he gave me, I could see that we were chosen by our Maker for an important role – that he promised Abraham that through his seed all nations would be blessed; that throughout the centuries of biblical times he kept promising us that he would send a Messiah, constantly giving us clues so that when he came we would recognise him, and that we were also to tell the world about it – that out of Zion shall come forth the Torah, and the Word of God from Jerusalem.

So now, twelve years after that initial meeting in London, I’m home in more than one sense. I am now part of a congregation in Israel, a gathering of Jews – Sabras and new immigrants alike – who have been made whole by our very own Sabra-Jewish Messiah, whom we’re also happy to share with the goyim as they too are under God’s grace. Praise be to Yeshua, my Landsman, my Saviour and my Lord.

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Like I said, I wrote this back in 2002 – just found it now as I’ve been going through old computer files that I’ve finally had copied over from a bunch of floppy disks I had lying around. I don’t live in Israel now – I’ve married an Englishman and we currently live in the UK. But Yeshua is with me here too, even if people around me call him Jesus :)

I lived in Ukraine for two years and spent a good amount of time with a Chabbad family there, celebrating holidays and Shabbat with them. I’m not Jewish (I’m a disciple of Jesus) but being in that community made me acutely aware of how special it would be to experience Yeshua as a Messianic Jew. Confession: I am always a little jealous of Messianic Jews. :)

It’s interesting. I find myself inbetween myself. I’m Bal Teshuva with a Christian father and a daughter who wants to also be a Christian and we are the only Jews in our area. She wants to be both so my father is not excluded. So, we’ve all been going to Church and my daughter is being Confirmed next month. I’ve been wondering about Messianic Judaism. I know the dramas it causes. I was raised a Christian before my late Bubbe revealed what I suspected then uncovered, she was Jewish. So I’ve been bouncing around between both. I sat in Church yesterday and wondered if I’m a Messianic Jew or just nuts…..

Sounds like quite a journey you’ve been on – I know someone here in the UK who only discovered his Jewish ancestry as an adult, and then started to reclaim his Jewish identity. (He is a Messianic Jew – that’s where I know him from.)

I wonder, what’s it been like for you going to church with your daughter? (My own journey to faith started with accompanying someone to church. I totally wasn’t expecting anything significant to come out of that, but I met God there.)

Oh, and have you read the book “Betrayed” by Stan Telchin? It’s a fascinating story. This guy is an American Jew, whose daughter went to university and came back saying she believed in Jesus now. She challenged her dad to prove her wrong. He studied the Scriptures, looking to prove her wrong, and ended up with the same conclusion she had come to – that Jesus is the Messiah!

It’s been interesting. I think I walked away from Christianity because I’ve always questioned Jesus’ divinity. I’ve never “felt” his presence. And I really WANT to. I’ve been really praying on it, especially at Church. I know this is the right path for my daughter, so I want it to be the right path for me. I NEED it to be the right path for me…….

wow, I’m not sure why I never answered you back then, sorry! God got me to look at this post again today and I see we had an unfinished conversation. my apologies!

so, two years on, how’s it going? for you, and for your daughter? have you thought any more about this subject? have you read the book I mentioned? I understand you’re still following the Orthodox path – I see you sometimes on Philip’s posts on G+ and that’s the impression I get anyway. Do correct me if I’m wrong!

a few things I’d like to say about your last comment here – and I’ll start from the end and go back:

1. you talk about it being the right path for your daughter – but if Jesus is who he says he is, then he is the right path for everyone; and if he isn’t who he says he is, then he can’t be right for anyone because he’d be either a liar or a madman. He went around saying he was God – either he is, in which case we should all be worshipping him, or he was a complete and utter nutcase and all those people who witnessed that he’d come back to life were all hallucinating.

2. you talk about never feeling Jesus’ presence. now I’m not going to say that it isn’t a seriously wonderful thing when we do feel his presence – of course it is, it’s the presence of God and there’s nothing more literally awesome than that! but he didn’t die to give us nice experiences, some kind of “high” that makes us feel good. He died to save us from our sins. That’s the really important bit. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

3. you talk about questioning Jesus’ divinity, and I could mention so many Scripture references that are relevant, but how about starting with the beginning of Psalm 110 – who do you think David is talking about, when he describes a conversation between Adonai and “my Lord” (Adoni in Hebrew)? Read it for yourself, and think about it for yourself. Can he be talking about anyone else other than the promised Messiah?